“I posted vaguely about an incident of when I was nine years old being assaulted by a man who I was then sort of forced to see afterwards for a long time,” Ferrera said, referencing her #MeToo post. “And what struck me about my experience was his certainty that I would be silent. And he was right. He was right for 24 years.”

At another point in the conversation, Ross admitted that she still struggles at times to speak up: “The thing that’s always surprising to me: I am a strong, outspoken, powerful woman, and there are places and ways and times that I am even afraid to speak up. There are environments that we all work in that support a culture of harassment or a culture of any of those things.”

Toward the end of the discussion, the women debated whether speaking up about past experiences of sexual misconduct could lead to a greater sense of empowerment or control. While Witherspoon said that she has not “gotten to that place yet,” she added that she must speak up now — not just for herself, but for women who may lack the resources or power to do so.

“You know, we have public voices,” Witherspoon said. “We have resources. But women who are workers in this country have nothing to gain in certain instances by coming forward. But we want to help.”